Question: Why can't I connect to my MySQL Database?

I've got a website hosted at GoDaddy, and I created a new MySQL database. I've done this a million times. This time when I try to connect to the new database, I get this error message:

Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client

What do I do?

Answer

This error is related to a difference in how passwords are handled in different versions of MySQL. From the MySQL site:

MySQL 5.0 uses an authentication protocol based on a password hashing algorithm that is incompatible with that used by older (pre-4.1) clients. If you upgrade the server from 4.0, attempts to connect to it with an older client may fail with the following message: Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client

The page gives several options for resolving the issue, but since you're using GoDaddy hosting, you probably don't have administrative access required for most of them. So, you can initiate a tech support call.

Or...

Pop open your database manager from your hosting manager, and then open an SQL query window. In the SQL query window, enter the following: